| Asia has nothing to fear except monsters
SYDNEY - Asia has limited exposure to the US subprime loans fallout, so we can all take a ringside seat while Europe and North America sort through the debris. Right? Wrong.
It's true that the tsunami rippling through the lowest and riskiest level of US mortgage lending has no direct bearing on this region. Asian stocks have been oversold in the equities fallout and logically their markets should by now have become safe havens for nervous investors.
But crises have a way of breeding paranoia and sapping consumer confidence long after the initial bruising has subsided,
even when most stockholders are mere spectators in a drama being played out on distant shores.
Asian banks are more equipped than most to handle credit strains, having spent heavily on improved risk-management and regulatory systems after the 1997-98 East Asian economic meltdown.
Private Media Group Reports Second Quarter Results - Company Business Model Successfully Focused On New Media ...
BARCELONA, Spain, Aug. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Private Media Group Inc. (Nasdaq: PRVT) a worldwide leader in premium-quality adult entertainment products today announced its results for the three months ending June 30, 2007. Click for the lowest price on dmnobieblankDVD');" onMouseOut="setTimeout('hideLayer()',500);" class=hotlink2>DVD & Magazine sales decreased by 38% to 2.0 million euro due to an industry wide decrease in Click for the lowest price on dmnobieblankDVD');" onMouseOut="setTimeout('hideLayer()',500);" class=hotlink2>DVD sales, see discussion below, and as a result this and continued strategic transitional factors, the Company reported a decrease in net sales of 21% to 6.0 million euro compared to the same period last year. New Media sales: Wireless sales increased 73% to 0.7 million euro.
Market insight: Central banks share blame for credit bubble
The global credit bubble is bursting. This bubble is primarily leverage financing for owning risky assets. The people who were responsible for what happened played with other people's money, marketed arcane financial products with false promises of fat profits, but stuffed their own pockets with big bonuses. Neither these masters of the universe nor their greedy but naïve investors deserve to be bailed out. They deserve what is coming to them. The central banks bear equal responsibility in the current debacle. After 9/11, central banks cut interest rates dramatically and provided the cheap money for this leverage bubble. They must not flood the world with liquidity again to sustain this bubble or create another. The central banks should focus on price stability, not financial market stability, and should provide liquidity only to contain the multiplier effect of the bubble bursting on the economy.
Developers seek tax breaks, bonds for proposed hotel
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Government agencies are weighing developers' requests for tax-exempt bonds and other tax breaks that could help build a $210-million luxury condominium and hotel building in the city's Central Business District.Lead developers Darryl Berger and Roger Ogden have gotten preliminary approval for a $190 million tax-exempt bond issue from the State Bond Commission and the Industrial Development Board of New Orleans, which will more closely consider the proposed 340-foot tower at Canal Place once a cost-benefit analysis is done.The city council recently voted to designate the proposed building site an ''economic development district'' whose sales tax revenue could be used to secure bonds to help fund construction. That ordinance and a proposed one - which would authorize Mayor Ray Nagin to sign an agreement with the developers that would ''make it economically feasible'' for the Industrial Development Board to issue bonds - were introduced at the request of the Nagin administration.
Twellman stars for Revs
FOXBORO - Fortunately, Taylor Twellman found the back of the net.What with 35,402 fans on hand disappointed that David Beckham was not in uniform and unavailable for duty for the Los Angeles Galaxy, they would have been doubly distraught with a nil-nil (scoreless) deadlock.But, the New England Revolution's all-time career goal-scoring leader notched his ninth goal of the season - after going 0-for-5 on first-half chances - in the 56th minute of the MLS match for the margin of victory in the 1-0 verdict over the Galaxy Sunday at Gillette Stadium.The outcome almost took a backseat to the appearance of Beckham, the international superstar with Manchester United and Real Madrid, the latest in the line of European mercenaries to cross the pond to arrive on the shores of America to boost the popularity of futbol."I can't wait until we get going, because you can see he's good," said LA midfielder and USA National Team member Landon Donovan of Beckham.
Chrysler CEO's silence about his pay does not help repair his reputation
Opportunity knocked, and Robert Nardelli missed it. If he really wanted to begin rehabilitating his tarnished reputation, he could have started his CEO job at Chrysler by publicly promising he would not accept a penny in pay. Instead, the former Home Depot home improvement chain CEO _ who left the home improvement retail chain in January with a controversial $210 million (�153.85 million) severance package _ stayed mum on what he would be making while trying to lead struggling Chrysler out of its funk. Chrysler officials fed the media tidbits about his $1 a year salary. But they refused to provide details about any performance-based bonus Nardelli could collect should he manage to help reverse the automaker's slide. Technically, Chrysler and Nardelli had no obligation to talk about his pay.
Gaza facing economic disaster, U.N. warns
The Gaza Strip will soon become entirely dependent on foreign aid and face "disastrous consequences" if the Hamas-run territory remains sealed off, the U.N. warned on Thursday. A Palestinian business group, meanwhile, estimated that at least 120,000 Gazans could lose their jobs if the closure continues. Israel and Egypt closed their crossings with Gaza to all but humanitarian aid after the Islamic militant group Hamas violently seized power in the coastal strip in June, exacerbating the poverty among the 1.4 million residents. However in a special case, Israel on Thursday allowed the last of more than 6,300 Palestinians stranded in Egypt since the closure to return home to Gaza. The military said the last 475 crossed the Egypt-Israel border at Nitzana in the Negev desert, and were then escorted to the Israel-Gaza border at Erez, about 43 miles to the north to end an 11-day operation.
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